Recent News

Congratulations!

Afsana Noor, PhD graduate research assistant working under the direction of Dr. Chris Little received the Kansas Academy of Science Graduate Research Grant award! Way to go Afsana! read more...

Highly Cited Researchers 2018

This list recognizes world-class researchers (Eduard Akhunov) selected for their exceptional research performance, demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science.

The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, or BIFAD, has selected Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman, a doctoral candidate in genetics at Kansas State University, as the winner of the 2018 BIFAD Student Award for Scientific Excellence in a Feed the Future Innovation Lab.

Rahman is a member of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics, which is directed by Jesse Poland, associate professor of plant pathology.

Kansas State University, under the lead of Sanzhen Liu, has been awarded funds to study the genetic basis of resistance to bacterial disease in corn by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The goal of the research is to understand the basis of disease and enable the development of improved corn varieties for Goss’s wilt resistance.

Liu, assistant professor of plant pathology at K-State, is the principal investigator for the three-year $700,000 research grant. He will also work with Professors Frank White from the University of Florida and Alison Robertson from Iowa State University.

The bacterial disease called Goss’s wilt has re-emerged in major corn-producing areas of the United States and Canada and represents a threat to maize production. Researchers on this project will pinpoint genetic elements responsible for bacterial virulence and host resistance through genetic approaches. The research will provide implications for other important, yet poorly understood, plant diseases caused by closely related bacteria, including tomato canker and potato ring rot.

At K-State, Liu will also provide a research opportunity to students who are eligible to participate in the Kansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, or KS-LSAMP, through working with the director of the Diversity Programs Office at K-State.

“These awards don’t happen by accident,” said Jennifer "Vern" Long, the acting director for the office of agriculture, research and policy in USAID’s Bureau for Food Security. “We have a very high bar for extending programs, and it’s really a reflection of the innovative approach that these programs have taken and how they bring the best of U.S. science to bear on these global challenges.”

Wheat Code Finally Cracked

Kansas State University scientists, in collaboration with the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, published today in the international journal Science a detailed description of the complete genome of bread wheat, the world's most widely-cultivated crop.